The present invention relates generally to microwave antennas, and more particularly, to microwave antennas that are made of molded plastic material.
Conventional microwave ,antennas are generally made of metal components, and typically include an antenna aperture and electromechanical phase shifter, a horizontal feed network, a plurality of interconnecting waveguides, a vertical feed network including conventional rotary field phase shifters, and a sum and difference monopulse feed network. In general, all of these components have heretofore been fabricated out of metal. This results in a costly and heavy antenna system.
Reference is hereby made to two copending patent application, the first filed on 07/880,123, having Ser. No. May 7, 1992, and entitled "Molded Waveguide Components" and the second filed on 07/880,122, having Ser. No. May 7, 1992 and entitled "Molded Metallized Plastic Microwave Components and Process for Manufacture", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. These two patent applications address methods for manufacturing certain components employed in the present invention the fabrication of detailed components used to complete a molded metallized thermoplastic antenna in accordance with the present invention. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,157, entitled "Solderable Plated Plastic Components and Processes for Manufacture and Soldering" assigned to the assignee of the present invention addresses fabrication of certain antenna components by soldering plated plastic components.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide for a microwave antenna wherein substantially all antenna components are fabricated from molded or extruded, plated, plastic components.